“When questioned about any regrets they had, or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again,” Ware reported.

Here are the top five regrets of the dying according to her observations:

Click cover to learn more about book

1) I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
“This was the most common regret of all. When people realize that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.”

2) I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.
“All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence. …They missed their children’s youth and their partner’s companionship. Women also spoke of this regret, but as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners.” Women in this generation can have that same regret now more acutely.

3) I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
“Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence.”

4) I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
“Often they would not truly realize the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks … Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by …”
5) I wish that I had let myself be happier.
“This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realize until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. … Fear of change had them pretending that they were content, when deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.”

Courage to Change
If you could project into the future, being on your deathbed, what do you think one of your top regrets would be? Do you have the ability to change it? Then start today. If one of your dreams is to write and publish a book, I am giving you an excellent opportunity to fix it. You can get a one-hour initial writing coaching consultation (normally 75 dollars) for 55 dollars to see if you are ready, and how we can structure your book to succeed. Then we can create a plan to keep it on target. Just click here to book and reserve your appointment, adding your contact info in notes area, and we will contact you to schedule a call, Skype or in-person meeting in Vancouver. For more info, leave a message at 778-300-5152 and we will get back to you promptly.

From Mexico, where I am preparing for our Writing Retreat on February 15 (still spaces to join us!), using the magic of technology I had the pleasure of interviewing Martin Crosbie and his amazing success at selling over 100,000 copies of his self-published novel, My Temporary Life and further still with his second novel, My Name is Hardly. How did he do it? Listen to the interview by playing:

CLICK on PLAY BUTTON ABOVE TO HEAR INTERVIEW.

To learn more about Martin Crosbie’s Books CLICK COVERS:

• “Did she get in a fight with her publishers?”
• “Did they drop her from their roster?”
• “Does this mean publishing is dead?”

The gossip was rife for speculation but Jackie Collins set the record straight. She loves both her publishers. Collins said “times are changing, and technology is changing, so I wanted to experiment with this growing trend of self-publishing.”

Collins went on to say, “I’ve been a published author for many years, and I’ve had the good fortune to work with several great publishers, and I’ve seen MANY changes in the publishing industry. From new printing techniques, to new advertising mediums, to direct-to-fan digital publishing … At the end of the day, it’s about finding the best way to get your content into the hands of your fans.”

Collins said she did not think this as the death of publishing or even paper books.

“I love how a new book feels in your hands. I love turning the pages one-by-one as you curl up in a chair and engross yourself in the story. But I also know that to stay successful, you’ve always got to be thinking two steps ahead of the game. And by all counts, the book industry is going the way of the CD industry. Almost nobody buys CDs anymore; we get our music fix on iTunes.”

In summing up, Collins encouraged embracing the new reality and says if she was an author starting out today she wouldn’t have to rely on luck of finding a publisher she would be trying the other options.

“I’ve always been involved in the business side my career,” Collins admits and says the numbers don’t lie and are adding up for eBooks.

Each of our Dragon’s Den entrepreneurs were very distinct, unique personalities, and each had different experiences and 20/20 wisdom we can learn from. They were:

Brad Friesen – Last Call – the hangover cure
Dougie Luv – DougieDog – hot dog restaurant that has on the menu the $100 hot dog
Scott Lim – BKH Jerky - the healthy meat jerky that is addictively delicious
Dan Plante – Chawel – the portable beach changing room towel

Brad Friesen was probably the most outrageous. He epitomized that entrepreneurs (and authors) take risks. How did he do that? Well he pitched a product that he had not yet invented. Don’t get me wrong, the recipe for the hangover cure, Last Call, exists but the novel way of delivery – the cap that dispenses the dry ingredients into the liquid before you drink it and therefore eliminating the need for preservatives — hadn’t really been perfected yet.  But Brad was no stranger to entrepreneurism, he had a partnership in a plastics company that he sold before developing this, but it took him a year of unemployed thinking about it … while partying his face off and testing the cure … and another year of both partying and putting in some effort towards the idea. In the midst of that year, almost on a whim, he had decided he wanted to get into the DD auditions and see what he could do. It motivated him. If you watched the episode, you know that besides taking a risk, Brad’s charming authenticity and smarts had the Dragon’s eating out of his hands.  So the lessons can be summed up, it’s okay and even advisable to go test the interest level and the market before you finish your product. Writers take note. It’s not only okay, but recommended to write blogs, stories, articles or a lighter eBook, with a catchy cover and title to test the market before writing your bigger opus. The other lesson, is be You. People want to love the author/inventor/entrepreneur too.

In fact, Dougie Luv, is another audacious example of a big personality that takes risks and is a master of marketing and self-promotion. If you are wondering what kind of fool would pay $100 for a hot dog, consider that people pay for experiences and Dougie invites the $100 hotdog clients into his restaurant kitchen to create this $100 hot dog with him, and a few more perks. Yes, it does include expensive ingredients such as a $2600 bottle of Cognac, but this dog is clearly about the fun experience of getting close to the country’s self-proclaimed foremost authority on hot dogs (Dougie skipped the book and went straight to making a movie about hot dogs that includes several celebrities).

Dougie’s experience reminds us all how to capitalize on publicity. This guy, more than all the others, has leveraged the DD experience and created more newsworthy ideas (his release of a Dragon Dog corresponded with both the DD show and the Chinese Year of The Dragon). Entrepreneurs who know how to capture and capitalize on PR, do well. Period. Authors who can promote themselves well, do well. As Natalie Goldberg taught us, readers want to know about the author (the entrepreneur). And did you know that Walt Whitman not only self published Leaves of Grass but wrote his own review of it? Vive le self-promotion.

But not all of us are naturally so bold. Enter Scott Lim of BKH Jerky who decided he wanted to rescue his parents Asian jerky business and bring it to the whole world (not just the Asian community). Problem, Scott was terrified of public speaking and his first audition was just plain bad. What rescued him was that his jerky product was so good, so deliciously addictive, that the producers of DD decided to give him another shot if he could get his pitch better. Scott joined a entrepreneur’s networking group that could help him on his presentation skills (hmm … like Presentation Excellence Group that VSW has), and started to hone his skills. The lesson for anyone is that public speaking mastery can count incalculably towards success and especially for entrepreneurs (remember all writers are entrepreneurs). That said, Scott’s story also underlines the importance of a quality product. Dougie and Scott are getting increases in sales up to 35% higher because they not only have some PR, but they have great products that people want.

Now our last entrepreneur, Dan Plante, of Chawel had one of the most unique, simple products, but he learned some valuable, if not hard-to-take, lessons. What we liked about Dan was that his story was simple and clear. As a beach lifeguard he kept on seeing people trying to change discreetly under towels and in parking lots with embarrassing results. His product gives people a multi-purpose portable change room. Do enough people want his product? Apparently, yes. Can he build a full business out of one product, no one is sure.

Dan’s major lesson was being personally disappointed after the Dragon he partnered with dropped the ball. The truth is, unless you are paying celebs high profile consulting fees for their time, the most successful will be delegating to their underlings. Dan needed to not wait for his Dragon and go get that infomercial himself, but he hasn’t done that … yet. Likewise, don’t think having a publisher alone will set you on a marketing and PR path to glory. It doesn’t work that way. Don’t wait for others, make your own promotion happen, hire the experts, and commit to what you know will work.

The other important lesson for Dan is the name of his product/brand, Chawel, is both confusing in its spelling and its meaning. But he’s already branded it and found that no one can find his website and that he frequently gives traffic to a not-owned-by him ”Chowel” domain. This reminds us of the how we are constantly reminding authors how critical titles are. Non-fiction writers titles and subtitles are crucial in the world of online marketing (Kathrin Lake will be giving excellent lessons on this in her upcoming workshop Write & Publish your eBook before Labour Day on August 13th). If you don’t put mucho thought and research into your title, you are already failing.

All of the DD entrepreneurs had one very important summing up advice for other entrepreneurs, persistence is key. As much as people reinforce that “do not give up” is one of the major keys to success, we forget. We are human beings, after all, and need to draw together other like-minded risk takers for support, both positive and constructive. Plus, we have all seen pitches on the Den where the entrepreneurs put in a lot of money and really should have given up. Was there some knowledgeable networking buddies who they should have been listening to sooner? So how do you know when you should give up on a dream? Perhaps, ask yourself who it is really for? How does it benefit others really? Are people hungry for what you have to say? Sometimes it is just for you, and, no shame, there is a lot of personal healing in writing (and it doesn’t cost you anything to do), but when you intend to sell it, you are into markets, market niches, trends and demand.

Being an entrepreneur and/or author will always mean you have to risk your own time, money and personal daring. Don’t kid yourself that you don’t, but looking at each person’s journey, it is easy to see that it encompasses acquiring new skills, intrepid problem-solving, painful learning, creative flourishes, capitalizing on your strong suits, seizing opportunities, taking risks to be different, believing in yourself, believing in what you produce, building relationships and being persistent. We all know this, but we want to hear others success stories of the journeys all the same, hoping there is one key to a magic formula we are missing. With Dragon’s  Den, people think the Dragon’s have the key and will grant it to you, but really the show is just another opportunity, the work is still done by those with the courage to pursue their dreams.

The internet both confuses and separates, joins and disseminates. It is part of the machinery of economics and also wanders outside it, boldy and broadly. It has the power to force revolutions, reactions, exposés, new genres and new forms.  It has the power to give power to the people (and the artists), and it has the under-handedness of giving power to monopolies (Google, Amazon) that make both money and rules that are in their favour.

Artists and writers everywhere need an education on how they can use this New Age in their favour. Peggy Richardson has told me that we are members of the New eLiterati. Literate in both the ways of the internet and in what is going on in the literary world, the world of talk, the world of storytelling, the world of new messages.  This is also what has been behind the Vancouver School of Writing. And as we have our free and low-cost events in Vancouver, we will also be moving a series of great online courses and make them available for all to access, and work with all our experts, in publishing and marketing to help you reach your goals and show you how to use the new e-power and connect with others if not for new ideals at least to exchange inforamtion, ideas and inspiration.